Queen in bloodsports row

by BEN TAYLOR, Daily Mail

The Queen reignited the row about the Royal Family and bloodsports at the weekend when she was pictured wringing the neck of an injured pheasant. She killed the shot bird, which had been brought to her by a gundog, during a day's shooting at Sandringham.

Country sports experts insisted that the action, which took less than a second, was one of the quickest and most humane ways to put a pheasant out of its misery.

But animal rights and anti-bloodsports campaigners bitterly criticised the Queen, claiming that by even taking part in Saturday's shoot she was guilty of encouraging cruelty.

The furore left her apparently unperturbed. Senior Palace aides said there was no question of her halting the popular Sandringham weekly winter shooting parties.

And yesterday morning she arrived at church in a red hat with what appeared to be pheasant feathers fastened to it. The incident came during the first shooting excursion on the 20,000-acre estate since the pheasant season opened in October.

Wearing a waxed jacket and headscarf, and carrying a shepherd's wooden crook, the Queen had set off for a day's shooting with the Duke of Edinburgh at 9.30am. Two hours later, as she stood in a field watching Prince Philip take aim, a labrador trotted towards her carrying an apparently dead pheasant.

The 74-year-old Queen, who does not shoot herself but is a keen follower of the sport, inspected it and realised that it was still alive.

She tucked the crook under her arm, took the bird from the dog's mouth and swiftly wrung its neck with both hands. The dead bird was then handed to an aide before being tied up with the rest of the day's kill.

The Queen, who has been staying at Wood Farm on the estate, departed in a Range Rover for a 90-minute lunch before returning for another two hours' shooting in the afternoon.

As she left the church and waved at the crowd waiting out-side, one royal aide said: 'It seems the feathers in her hat were meant to give the message that she felt she had not done anything wrong by killing the bird.

'The Queen would never enter into a public debate about whether she should be involved in country sports - but by displaying the feathers she has made her feelings plain without saying anything '

Paul Thompson, of Animal Action, claimed that by continuing to support bloodsports, the Royal Family was 'out of touch'.

'Why put the bird in misery in the first place? Shooting is probably the worst of all blood sports because so many birds are killed for no apparent reason.

'It is not as if they can use the argument that it is a form of pest control. The real cruelty is how the birds are bred simply for the purpose of being shot.

'It just goes to show how out of touch the Queen, and the rest of the Royal Family, have become from the rest of the country.' A spokesman for the League Against Cruel Sports questioned the Queen's 'moral judgment'.